


Merlin drabbles: older generation

by sophinisba



Category: Merlin (BBC)
Genre: 100-1000 Words, Backstory, Canon-Typical Violence, Community: remixthedrabble, Drabble Collection, Drabble Sequence, Multi, Remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-03-20
Updated: 2009-06-21
Packaged: 2017-10-07 11:12:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/64583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophinisba/pseuds/sophinisba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It wasn't his plan all along to come back and exact his revenge.  (Edwin backstory.)</p>
          </blockquote>





	1. Revived

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It wasn't his plan all along to come back and exact his revenge. (Edwin backstory.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Claudia603 for looking this over for me.

It wasn't – as some of them whispered, as Edwin himself allowed them to believe – his plan all along to come back for the traitor and the tyrant and exact his revenge. How could he know where he was headed, when he was running screaming, then collapsed on the ground, mad with pain? He wasn't hell bent on revenge, not in those early days, those too-long years. He was only halfway out of hell, doing his best to survive with the fire still clinging to his side like a little brother. Wailing, inconsolable, spoiled little brat, tugging at his right hand.

 

He didn't remember the king watching stone-faced, arms folded over his chest, ignoring the screams of the sorcerers and their son as easily as he ignored the cries of his own baby boy. He barely remembered the old man (yes, already old then) who first caught him, held him still, smothered the flames, then lifted him onto a table and rubbed him all over with something wet and evil that hurt more than fire itself. He didn't remember how they got him out of the city or what words were said, how he was traded over, got out of sight.

 

He remembered the work, because as soon as he was able to stand on his own he was earning his keep, carrying messages, sorting ingredients. Looking up with large haunted eyes at those who might take pity and chip in an extra penny for the sake of the boy. Keeping out of sight of those who were frightened of his deformity. The master physician used his young apprentice to handle dangerous materials – after all, his hands were already ruined. The apprentice learned to see the usefulness in dark, ugly things that others feared. He talked to beetles, rats, and witches.

 

They talked back. They gave him their secret commands, whispered names and histories, told him not to settle for a servant's place, taught him never to settle. So when he was fifteen he murdered his master and made it look like measles. So when he was twenty he'd gone through three apprentices of his own, but through their deaths much knowledge was gained for science. So twenty years after his parents' execution Edwin returned to the courtyard of that castle, and he stood still and calm as a heartless king. The rest – almost all of it – went according to plan.


	2. Love Match

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Love matches are for peasants (Uther/Igraine, implied Arthur/Merlin)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the "traffic" prompt at merlin100 on LJ.

Love matches are for peasants, Uther's father said to stop him complaining he'd never love Igraine. So they gained a piece of land and a peace between kingdoms, but soon the love between them matched the tactical advantages, and then it surpassed them, and all was well and right until she was gone and nothing was right at all.

When the time comes, Uther knows, Arthur won't complain. He'll give up his mooning peasant boy and make of himself a piece of currency in the horrid traffic in lands and titles, sons and daughters. All for the love of Camelot.


	3. Fading (The Prelude to Incest Remix)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uther/Ygraine, consensual but a bit dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remix of [Faded](http://amory-vain.livejournal.com/25501.html) by amory_vain for remixthedrabble round 6. Mind the warnings on the original.

She didn't protest, even once she found out what it would cost her. It wasn't a question of obedience, of lying back and bearing the pain, for she loved her lord and when she opened to him she thrilled to him. But when she talked of bearing him a son there was a bright sadness in her eyes, telling him plainly that she understood: the kingdom needed an heir more than it needed a queen. As for Uther, he could still have her golden hair, her sun-flecked skin, only he couldn't have her, not for long, not forever, not again.


	4. When It Rains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nimueh POV on 1x13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the Deep Space Nine episode title prompts at writing_game [week 61](http://community.livejournal.com/writing_game/36955.html), "When It Rains…" and "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River".

When it rains, Nimueh lives it in her body and blood. The sky and land make love – sometimes tender as quiet kisses (those first nights with Igraine), sometimes with the thunder of a jealous King. Always the great river swells and the valley drinks deep, and the Lake of Nimueh's home is sated with blessings and bliss.

But when the traitor summons the rain, the sky screams she has no water to give. The land closes up. The river breaks its banks in reckless floods.

Merlin doesn't care. He hurls the lightning at Nimueh's heart. Her blood no longer flows.


End file.
